INDIVIDUAL EXAMPLE OF METONYMY Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare (click link for entire text) Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones:
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honorable men,--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once,--not without cause:
What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?--
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!--Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. ANALYSIS OF PURPOSE In Act 3, Scene 2, of Julius Caesar, author William Shakespeare’s purpose for writing is to relay the truth as well as show the advantages of trust. Marc Antony gives a speech to the townspeople on the death of Julius Caesar and inadvertently the whole truth behind Caesar’s death comes out. Along with the purpose of telling the truth, Antony is paying his respects to Caesar. Shakespeare uses the literary device of metonymy to help pass on his purpose. “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,” shows the use of metonymy in context. "Lend me your ears" represents giving Antony trust because in order to lend something of great value to someone, you must fully trust them. Another example of metonymy is, “I thrice presented him a kingly crown.” This represents not only the chance of royalty being offered to him but also the power he would gain as the king, but being the kind man that Caesar was, he graciously rejected it all three times. The final use of metonymy is, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar.” This of course doesn’t literally mean that Antony’s heart is in the coffin with Caesar, but that all of his feelings for and about Caesar are dead as well. The use of metonymy in this passage helps to further Shakespeare’s purpose of establishing truth and gaining trust because all in one way or another further prove the trust that the people as well as Antony had with Caesar.
Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare
(click link for entire text)
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones:
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honorable men,--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once,--not without cause:
What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?--
O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!--Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
ANALYSIS OF PURPOSE
In Act 3, Scene 2, of Julius Caesar, author William Shakespeare’s purpose for writing is to relay the truth as well as show the advantages of trust. Marc Antony gives a speech to the townspeople on the death of Julius Caesar and inadvertently the whole truth behind Caesar’s death comes out. Along with the purpose of telling the truth, Antony is paying his respects to Caesar. Shakespeare uses the literary device of metonymy to help pass on his purpose. “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,” shows the use of metonymy in context. "Lend me your ears" represents giving Antony trust because in order to lend something of great value to someone, you must fully trust them. Another example of metonymy is, “I thrice presented him a kingly crown.” This represents not only the chance of royalty being offered to him but also the power he would gain as the king, but being the kind man that Caesar was, he graciously rejected it all three times. The final use of metonymy is, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar.” This of course doesn’t literally mean that Antony’s heart is in the coffin with Caesar, but that all of his feelings for and about Caesar are dead as well. The use of metonymy in this passage helps to further Shakespeare’s purpose of establishing truth and gaining trust because all in one way or another further prove the trust that the people as well as Antony had with Caesar.
MFackler
"Google Image Result for http://www.partapsharma.com/images/Julius Caesar.jpg." Google Image Search. 06 Feb. 2009 <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.partapsharma.com/images/Julius%2520Caesar.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.partapsharma.com/Partap-Sharma-CDs.html&usg=gzvcCZZpZkVgTM3O7VZScG87phA=&h=400&w=400&sz=39&hl=en&start=79&tbnid=
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"Julius Caeser: Entire Play." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 06 Feb. 2009 <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/full.html>.
Shakespeare, William, ed. Julius Caesar. London: Wordsworth Editions, Limited, 1992.
"SparkNotes: Julius Caesar: Act III, scenes ii–iii." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides__. 08 Feb. 2009 <http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/juliuscaesar/section7.rhtml>.